Monday, September 28, 2015

In January of this year Peder contacted us saying he would
be interested in designing a ring to be made out of a piece of cedar from a
full size cedar log that had washed ashore on his family's water front property
at Whiskey Gulch near Homer, Alaska. Peder’s family has owned the land for a long
time and decided to never build on it. Jessica
and Peder spend summers there camping and enjoying the beauty!!

Knowing that we like to have a photograph of the folks we're working with, Peder sent a lovely pic of himself and Jessica noting that she's the pretty girl on the left, he's the bearded fellow on the right. : )

David and Peder had some back and forthing about how best to
cut wood from the log so it that would be workable and beautiful for Jessica's
ring.

After making its journey from Anchorage to William's Lake, in May, David proceeded to craft that chunk of precious log into an inlay with a featured knot on Birch wood.

skipping ahead a bit, here's a pic of Jessica's ring as a work in progress

and her finished ring ....

Earlier this month, Peder writes:

I finally gave
Jessica the ring and she absolutely loved it! She was totally surprised and
completely blown away by the ring, what it was, where it came from,

the
craftsmanship, etc."

And just the other day, this lovely email from Jessica arrived.

"I wanted to reach out and thank you both for helping Peder
Reiland create my engagement/wedding ring. It is a perfect reflection of our
love and life together. I have attached some photos from the special moment. Thank you again for helping to create something that means so much."

Thanks so much Peder and Jessica.

David and I wish you both continued happiness and clear, bright Alaskan skies.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

It's almost exactly a year since we began our conversation with Erin and Raphi. At the time, Raphi was teaching in St. Petersburg, Russia while Erin was back and forth between visits to Russia and life at home in the US. It's been a busy year for these two :) Travelling, working overseas, planning their wedding, packing up their home and moving across the country ... and now : ) settling in to their new home and Raphi's new teaching position in San Diego.

David and I so enjoyed working with Erin and Raphi. Kind, gentle souls and they are pretty cool too :) They biked 30 miles to their wedding location the day of the ceremony!! I just love that!!! What a way to go.

We received an email from the newlyweds just recently and they have kindly allowed us to share it along with these lovely photos of their wedding celebration. The photos were taken by Mackenzie Orth, their photographer. There are hundreds of beautiful photos to choose from ~ I'd like to post them all. David and I feel so honoured to be invited in to wander through their day in photographs and share in so many beautiful moments ...

From Erin and Raphi We can't thank you enough for the gorgeous rings that you
crafted for us! They are absolutely magical and are so special in their
representation of us as individuals and a couple. We had a friend of ours talk
about our rings and their design during our ceremony - they have been a
conversation topic ever since.

We had our celebration at Two Pony Gardens - a pizza farm just outside of the
Twin Cities. There was a dahlia garden, an outdoor pizza oven with freshly-made
pizzas, an upbeat Ukrainian band, and most of all our beloved friends and
family. The weather was perfect. That morning Raphi and I biked the 30 miles to
the farm together, worked with friends and family to get everything set up,
took a horse-drawn carriage ride through the woods together, had a wonderful celebration
of our love with pizza and dancing, and spent the night in a yurt in the
woods. It was magic. I wanted to send you some photos from our wedding -
our lovely photographer Mackenzie Orth did a great job of capturing our special
day and celebration.It was such a pleasure to
work with you on designing our rings. Thanks again for being a part of our
special day - the part that will stay with us for years to come! Erin and Raphi

Hawaiian Koa, with spiraled Birch and Andean Opal inlays

We are so happy for you both! Sending dearest love and warmest wishes for your happiness ~ and our sincere thanks for coming to us to help you create your wedding rings. What a pleasure it's been! Much love, as ever, Nicola and David.